Spinning-type fishing reels are well known in the art. A spinning reel typically includes a housing; an oscillating spool at an end of the housing; a rotatable crank handle extending from the housing; a rotor which rotates about the spool by cooperative movement with the crank handle; and a bail assembly. The bail assembly is typically mounted on the rotor, and operates to guide the fishing line onto the oscillating spool a turning of the crank handle. The rotor may include a pair of elongate rotor mounts which are positioned on opposite sides of the spool, to which the bail assembly is mounted.
The bail assembly of a spinning reel typically includes a U-shaped bail wire having each end fixedly connected to one of a pair of opposing bail arms. The bail arms are pivotally connected to the rotor mounts so that the bail wire and the bail arms can be pivoted between an open position to facilitate casting by feeding fishing line from the spool, and a closed position to facilitate reeling the fishing line on to the oscillating spool as a user turns the crank handle. In the open position, the bail wire is rotated to an angle substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the spool. In the closed position, the bail wire is rotated to a position substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the spool.
To facilitate the wrapping of the fishing line onto the oscillating spool, the bail assembly typically includes a line guide roller which receives and guides the fishing line onto the spool during the reeling operation. The line guide roller may be disposed between the bail wire and one of the bail arms. Alternatively, the line guide roller may be formed in one of the bail arms. The bail wire may be attached to the bail assembly adjacent the line roller, wherein the bail wire initially projects laterally outwardly from the line roller. Examples of prior art bail assemblies are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,257,513 and 6,056,221, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
When transferring fishing line from a spool of bulk fishing line to the spool of the fishing reel, the user ties an end of the fishing line on the spool of the reel. The user threads the fishing line from the bulk spool through eyelets on a fishing rod to the spool of the reel. Often the user will inadvertently forget to place the line under the bail wire. To remedy this, the user must cut the fishing line from the bulk spool and start the process over. To avoid starting over, the user may disassemble the reel by removing screws or pins to remove the bail wire or a bail arm, properly position the fishing line under the bail wire, and reassemble the reel. However, this requires additional time and special tools.
Similarly, when the user is fishing, the fishing line may break. When this occurs, the user must feed the fishing line from the spool on the reel, under the bail wire, through the eyelets on the fishing rod, and re-tie a lure on the end of the fishing line. Often, the user inadvertently forgets to place the line under the bail wire. The lure must then be removed from the fishing line, the fishing line must be pulled back through the eyelets, and then the fishing line must be properly positioned under the bail wire. This process is very time consuming, and may be particularly difficult when preformed in a boat where wind may be blowing, waves may be rocking the boat, lighting conditions may be poor, and the like.
Even when the user has the fishing line correctly installed under the bail on the reel and is attempting to feed line from the spool on the reel, the user must open the bail wire and thread the fishing line through the eyelets on the rod to attach a lure thereto. During this process, the bail may be bumped and caused to close. The user must then reconfigure the bail to the open position, or the fishing line will not feed properly from the spool on the reel due to the drag setting of the reel. To address this scenario, the user may set the spool so that fishing line is fed from the spool when the reel is spun in a reverse direction. However, if the user pulls the fishing line from the spool quickly, the rotor may spin too quickly causing the fishing line to wrap around the reel, resulting in a tangling of the fishing line.
One method of resolving the incorrect feeding of line around the outside of the bail wire is to remove the spool from the reel, open the bail wire, and then re-seat the spool However, current reels include spools which are held in place by fasteners. These fasteners often include fine threads which must be unthreaded from the reel before removal of the spools. This results in an additional undesirable delay.
It is desirable to produce a spinning-type fishing reel having a releasably mounted bail to facilitate efficient removal thereof for proper threading of the fishing line in a rod and the reel.